You Were There with Me, Sister

Sisters share the scent and smells – the feel of a common childhood.
— Pam Brown

Our Family Tree:

The top couples raised the next two, who got together & raised us; get it?

So, my sister is about to celebrate a milestone birthday this week, and I wish that I could be there to celebrate her big day! Alas, we are many miles apart, and that won’t be possible.

I will be thinking of her though and raising my glass in a cheer, toasting her!

Which got me thinking about the fact that she’s my sister; she’s my only sister. We were the only two children for our parents, and the only two grandchildren, while we were growing up, on our dad’s side.

We have so many memories, we are tied together forever. I tried to find some photos to bring some of those images, feelings and remembrances back to life. Here are a few of those that I came up with…

We survived the Seventies and the Eighties together. That’s kind of a big thing, they were very distinctive decades and so many by-gone things from those years remind me of my little sister:

From television shows to toys, and also food and drinks, it all reminds me of growing up with her. The clothing, of course, and the hair! It was often permed, or teased. We used real lemon juice and Sun-In in the summer time. We had some really, really bad hair-dos. Well, I did at least…

It will probably not surprise anyone to hear that she was the only other kid at all our Christmases, too, will it?

Let’s see, more fun family vacations, Griswold-style, than I can count; Santa’s Village and Mount Washington in New Hampshire, Old Orchard Beach in Maine, Boston, Walt Disney World and Busch Gardens in Florida. We made trips to visit family in Ontario, Quebec, Maine and Florida.

And we still do that, just last year we all met in Arizona for Christmas. It was a great time. We rented a vacation home and had adventures in the Tempe and Phoenix area.

Although I started going to school alone, and she finished up alone, we also shared a lot of first and last days over the years. We rode the bus together when we were in the same school, too.

We shared a few teachers, too, but that mostly meant that she had a teacher that I had already had (…I don’t remember that ever being an issue, but I hope not).

I found this photo from my son’s high school graduation and I had to laugh. He’s holding two of the cards he received; identical cards, one bought by me and the other by his aunt, my sister:

It’s particularly funny because of all the times that we’ve bought the same card or gift for the same person. Among them the exact same tea towels for our mother, one bought at a Target in Virginia, the other a Target in Colorado. What are the odds?

There have been others over the years as well. It’s a sibling-thing, no doubt.

My sister has helped me out of jams, stood up for me and always, always remembers my birthday. She’s always just a phone call or text away. We have laughed until we’ve cried again and again over the years.

When I got married my sister was my Maid-of-Honor, and I was her Matron-of-Honor several years later.

Here’s a sampling of mail I’ve saved:

That flower card is dated 1993! I have many more cards, post cards and encouraging notes, too.

We say the same things all the time. Just last summer at our mom’s side Family Reunion our dad’s cell phone rang during a most inopportune moment. At that instant I turned and whispered with a grin, “Oh no, he’s that guy!”

Turns out about ten feet away she’d turned, shaking her head and whispered, “Dad’s that guy.”

Don’t get me wrong, we’re really diverse, but we are definitely, beyond a doubt sibs, and how reassuring that we always will be.

Many of our summer breaks were spent at our grandparent’s home at the beach. They were great times. We also went there overnight every Christmas day of our childhoods, and most Mother’s Days were spent there for lobster dinners.

Many hours were spent reading books, playing with our Barbie Dolls, watching television, and just being little kids. We used our imagination to turn our grandfather’s rowing machine into our car or row boat; down in the basement, which, of course was our apartment or workplace.

So many good moments.

I didn’t set out intending for this to turn into such a picture album of a post, but it’s when I look at these photos that the memories become so vivid. Maybe it will do the same for my little sister.

Maybe it will possibly inspire others to organize those childhood pics and memorabilia.

There’s a funny quote from Charles M Shultz that goes —

Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life.

I’m sure it was true more than once when we were kids, and maybe even a few times since we’ve grown up, but I hope overall that my sister doesn’t think of me in that way. 🙂

It was nice growing up with someone like you — someone to lean on, someone to count on… someone to tell on!
—Author Unknown

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Published by rainamorton

— I'm just a girl who put her passion for fiction writing on the back burner while raising two boys...then turned forty and got a big reality check, medically speaking...currently looking for my special purpose, while drinking coffee & referencing pop-culture.
— I lost my mother in the summer of 2015 and it was the most life-shattering event...ever. My heart aches for her every day. But life moves forward, the adventures continues, and I persist!
— Likes: 80s movies, 90s music, traveling, memories, the idea of Chinese take-out, books, quotes, chalkboards, crosswords, photography, laughing, pens & paper...
Dislikes: feeling rushed, self-shaming, not having a time machine.
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2 thoughts on “You Were There with Me, Sister”

Happy Birthday to Jena! That was a lovely tour of some of your times together, Raina, and there were many over the years. You two always had each other whenever the family went anywhere, and that was great – no hanging about alone wondering what to do. Loved the old photographs – we took lots of photos and now we get such a kick out of them. It makes my heart happy that you are sisters and friends and I look forward to you two enjoying many more fun and heartfelt times. Thanks for sharing…. xo